Fun Fun Fun Fest wrap-up part 3
Day 2 brings us to the black stage to catch B L A C K I E again. I was curious to see how his explosive live show would translate to the big stage, and it worked. He jumped out into the crowd and fools went nuts, as usual. “I believe in total freedom!”
Death Grips followed and sounded as hard as the night before. Unfortunately they cancelled their west coast tour with B L A C K I E so that awesomeness won’t be happening for us in the Bay.
One of the bands I discovered at the Fest is Tinariwen, a favorite of Sonzala’s. Being from the Sahara Desert, they were the most appropriately dressed for the flying dirt storm created by Austin’s drought and high winds. (More about how the dirt did me in, later.)
The yellow stage, which was inside a tent, provided some relief from the flying dirt. I headed there for Donald Glover who was followed by Turquoise Jeep. If you’re a fan of Turquoise Jeep’s genius music videos, you understand my excitement. Donald recognizes the real — he introduces them.
They were all there except Slick Mahony — Flynt Flossy, Pretty Raheem, Young Humma, Whatchyamacallit, and the guy with the mask.
Despite it being free happy hour time, our gang met up back at the black stage for another Sonzala favorite, Detroit hardcore pioneers Negative Approach.
And the dirt flies! Into my eyes. I wear contact lenses, so it feels like being stabbed in the eyeballs by a thousand tiny needles. My pink bandana and Ray-Bans aren’t enough to prevent pain and partial blindness.
Before they’re done, Jess and I cut back to happy hour at the telli, and I try to rinse my eyes. I return later for The Damned, but can’t take the dirt, so soon I’m done for the night. They did “Neat Neat Neat” first anyway. The crew went out later and Serg caught some metal, including San Francisco’s Deafheaven and Austin’s Mammoth Grinder.
We start Day 3 with DJ Bird Peterson, who was followed on the blue stage by G-Side and Grimes.
Each stage had two sides which helped performances stay on schedule. G-Side were dope. They’ll be in San Francisco on December 20th at The Independent. Looking forward to that.
Back to the black stage for Nobunny. I finally got off the late train and became a fan. Next were one of my favorites of the Fest, the Zero Boys, punk pioneers from Indiana.
When lead singer Paul Mahern isn’t performing with the Zero Boys or in his studio, he’s running Mahern Audio and Mahern Archival, where he preserves analog audio. Awesome.
Serg and I hung out at the black stage to watch Eyehategod before taking a happy hour break.
From what I’ve seen and heard, Slayer’s was the ultimate show of the Fest. I, however, wanted to avoid the crowd and spent the last hour of the Fest in the yellow tent with Trash Talk.
Aside from Chaos en Tejas and SXSW, Fun Fun Fun Fest is probably the only music festival I’d want to go to. (Yep, they just happen to all be in Austin.) Can’t wait til next year.
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